Protest at the Paralympics to save Remploy (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Protest at the Paralympics to save Remploy
9:13am Thursday 30th August 2012 in News
By Peter Magill, Chief reporter
FIGHTING ON Brian Davis
A DISABLED sportsman who worked in Burnley is spearheading a last-ditch campaign at the Paralympics to save Remploy factories in the North West and beyond.
Brian Davis, a former GMB union shop steward for the disabled employment organisation’s Burnley and Blackburn sites, was sacked by Remploy earlier this year.
The 52-year-old was a gold medal winning swimmer at the 1981 para games in Oslo, a forerunner of the Paralympics, and was later awarded the OBE.
And he has been at the forefront of protests in Stratford, East London, where the Olympics and Paralympics are being held.
Remploy’s factories in East Lancashire are thought to be safe for now but other sites in Preston, Manchester, Bolton and Wigan, where Brian worked latterly, are set to close by the end of this year.
Mr Davis, who suffers from brittle bone disease, has been on a previous protest at Remploy’s Leicester HQ, where he said: “I have worked for Remploy for 33 years and they have treated us like dirt.”
Workers who have remained with Remploy, amid growing uncertainty about the company’s future, are also angry that they look set to receive £5,000 less than colleagues who have previously been made redundant.
The father-of-three insists that there are few opportunities available in mainstream employment for would-be employees like himself.
Strikes are set to occur in Chesterfield and Glasgow over the next week, at factories which are due to be sold off.
Coalition partners decided to reduce Remploy’s funding following the findings of the Sayce Review in June 2011, which recommended wholesale reforms, supposedly designed to assist more disabled workers into mainstream education.
Phil Davies, GMB National Secretary, added: “It is not too late for Prime Minister David Cameron to step in and do a U-turn to save these factories.”
Comments(7)
happycyclist
says...
10:29am Thu 30 Aug 12
Kermit The Frog wrote:Meanwhile, because the government is soft on crime, it's costing more to keep a criminal in prison for a year than it does to give a law-abiding citizen the dignity to work for a living.
However unpleasant, the facts are that each person working at Remploy costs the Government, therefore the taxpayer, over £25,000 a year.
In these times of economic austerity this is a donation that we as a country simply cannot afford to subsidise, particularly when the Access to Work scheme costs an average of £3,000 per worker.
Kermit The Frog
says...
11:27am Thu 30 Aug 12
happycyclist wrote:I agree with you, but which would you prefer as a much-needed cost cutting measure - stop funding remploy or let all the criminals back out on to the streets?
Kermit The Frog wrote:Meanwhile, because the government is soft on crime, it's costing more to keep a criminal in prison for a year than it does to give a law-abiding citizen the dignity to work for a living.
However unpleasant, the facts are that each person working at Remploy costs the Government, therefore the taxpayer, over £25,000 a year.
In these times of economic austerity this is a donation that we as a country simply cannot afford to subsidise, particularly when the Access to Work scheme costs an average of £3,000 per worker.
happycyclist
says...
11:33am Thu 30 Aug 12
Kermit The Frog wrote:Cut the cost of keeping criminals in prison; that's what I'd prefer.
happycyclist wrote:I agree with you, but which would you prefer as a much-needed cost cutting measure - stop funding remploy or let all the criminals back out on to the streets?
Kermit The Frog wrote:Meanwhile, because the government is soft on crime, it's costing more to keep a criminal in prison for a year than it does to give a law-abiding citizen the dignity to work for a living.
However unpleasant, the facts are that each person working at Remploy costs the Government, therefore the taxpayer, over £25,000 a year.
In these times of economic austerity this is a donation that we as a country simply cannot afford to subsidise, particularly when the Access to Work scheme costs an average of £3,000 per worker.
doctor1970
says...
1:42pm Thu 30 Aug 12
happycyclist
says...
2:41pm Thu 30 Aug 12
doctor1970 wrote:Like the right to be discriminated against?
In burnley there are no disabled people in employment. The disabled have the right to have the same rights has anyone else.
RUinsane
says...
2:52pm Thu 30 Aug 12
Give the disabled jobs in banking, paid for by the bonuses of the fat cats. Sorted.
I am the lawmaker and I have spoken, you may now leave.
Kermit The Frog says...
10:08am Thu 30 Aug 12
In these times of economic austerity this is a donation that we as a country simply cannot afford to subsidise, particularly when the Access to Work scheme costs an average of £3,000 per worker.